The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-19
MASKED VIGILANTES.
The white Caps" or knights of the
Switch" in Indiana.

diana what the BALD Knobbers" were to
Missouri Not so desperate in character as
the latter, their organization is identical and
they have equally set law at defiance.
The Headquarters of the white Caps are
in Harrison county, Ind, but the organiza-
ton extends over into Crawford, Jefferson,
and half dozen other counties in the oldest
civilization of the State.
There is not more intelligent peaceable
or orderly community in Indiana than in
Harrison county. Corydon. the county
seat, was the first capital of the State, and
its court house, built in 1911, was fourteen
years the capitol. The country is rich and
schools and churches abound. A branch
railroad has been built to Corydon, and
its citizens are prominent in State and ma
ton.
In spite of all this, the white Caps" or
t'Knights of the Switch as they are some
times called, have existed for seventeen
wears, The courts have been set at defiance,
jails have been opened and prisoners 1ber-
ated or punished. Men, women and chill,
dren have been dragged out of bed at dead
of night, and their homes burned before
their eyes, while they themselves have been
whipped tortured with fiendish ingenuity
and made to fee the country.
DEALING sUMMARILY WITH wRoNG-DoERs.
! Like the BALD Knobbers,n the professed
motive of the white CAPS" is the punish
anent of crime more swiftly and fittingly
than can be accomplished in the courts.
For this reason there has been little outcry
against them, and even when public indig-
nation has been aroused by some unusually
fragrant act, nothing has been accomplished.
} The identity of ''White Caps" has been
revealed time and again, but not one has
ever been brought TO punishment. There
have been many attempts by grand juries
to indict the offenders, but so far they have
proved ineffective. For years and years
hardly a circuit court is held in Harrison
county that the jury is not instructed to
investigate some case OF recent occurrence,
but S'White Caps" are on the jury and in
the court room, and nothing has ever been
discovered in this way.
There have been but few confessions of
membership, but one of these furnishes In
formation of the regular nature of the or
ganization. The white Caps" or
knights are organized with regular
lodges. There are signs, grips and pass
words-crude, of course, but sufficient for
the recognition of, and for communication
between, members. They meet at appointed
places, but not often at the same place, and
but seldom in house. Secluded groves are
their favorite resorts, and here they assem-
BILE upon notification of the leader of the
lodge. Councils are held, expeditions deter
mined upon and punishments inflicted.
The sign for the assembling of these
lodges" is the laying of crossed fence rails
in the middle of road.
The earliest known band of this organiza-
ton was in Scott township, Harrison county
seventeen years ago. James n. Kean, q
small farmer, accused of petty thievery
was tied to a tree and severely whipped.
lie was their first victim, but cases were
frequent after that.
ACTIVITY OF THE SwITCHER.
OF late the ''White Caps have been very
active. The latest outbreak was in Jeffer-
son county, two miles from the small village
of Brooksburg. A band of masked men
last Friday night broke into the farm house
of Stout Bronson, dragged him from bed
with his wife and child, removed the furni-
ture from the rooms, burned the dwelling
and quietly disappeared. Neither Bronson
nor his neighbors can assign any reason for
the outrage, but it is supposed the white
Caps were headed by a personal enemy
That the party was from the organization
was shown by their wearing the white
masks which have given them their names.
The lynching of John Davis, near Eckerty,
Ind, three weeks ago, for an assault upon
Annie Flanagan, was the work of the mys-
FERROUS band.
WOMEN WHIPPED.
The knights were guilty ten days ago
of less serious but also less extenuated Of
fence. At midnight band of some twelve
UT UlIt6u Wull6 IUdbkS RlSlUtu Dlc mouse OF
Joseph Lynch, a farmer who lives near
Eeavenworth. They broke in the doors,
eeized Lynch and his wife, entered the room
where slept his daughter Mary with her
three little brothers, and dragged the whole
party into the front yard. The two younger
boys broke loose and fed into the bushes.
Five men held Lynch and the older boy,
and the remainder whipped the two women
with stout hickory switches. They mounted
their horses when sufficient punishment had
been inflicted and quietly rode away.
The outrage created no excitement either
at Corydon or Leavenworth though brief
notices We're made in the papers here. The
Lynches live in prosperous neighborhood,
but when a correspondent visited the place
men only shrugged their shoulders and said
little beyond renlarking that the ''whip-ups
generally get hold Of the right parties"
TALK WITH VICTIMS.
The home of Lynch was visited, and his
wife was found ct work laying rail fence
In front of the house. Her boys were around
the house, and Mary got up out of bed to
stare at the unaccustolned visitor. Very
stability dressed were all. Mr.. Lynch was
at work at a neighbours, and his wife was
10 frightened that she trembled from head
TO foot when questioned, thinking the re-
porter was one of the knights"
She said the Gaps" had been there week
ago and whipped her and Mary, but she
couldn't remember anything When any
trouble came her heart beat so fast that It
.,Eheked her and she fell down like dead, and
Nt BIAS the way with her that night She
&kgidently afraid to tell anything, but
mi long persuasion made the following
Enent:
NJ lived here all my life, and belong to
people, but I've had a hard time. Mr.
IA owns farm and I'll get this place
lny mother. We've had trouble and
lesg
~ girl Mary got into trouble, but the
b man said he'd marry her. They were
narried in tho fall hut my son Willis
pdlcted and they couldn't be- Then
were TO be married in the spring, but
tpmily made such trouble they
49, nt. His name is Bryant Green, and
he Ethe son of Wesley Green, our nearest
neighbor. He says he'll marry her yet.
now THE WHITE CAPS" MANAGE.
'The other evening Andy Green, Bryants
young brother, came over and borrowed
our shotgun. That night the vigilance
came and they whipped me and whipped
Mary. | don't know who il was They
whipped us in our night clothes. First one
aud then another dashed us both. Marys so
lwfully hurt I'm afraid she'll die guess
heres some people want our little property
md are trying to drive us away
Mary Lynch is not more than II years